Logitech Aquires Slim Devices

[HAVIC]

http://www.logitech.com/index.cfm/ab...ontentid=12940

[nightflier]

Logitech has sure come a long way from when it was just making mice. So now people can control their transporter with their harmony remotes. Speaking of that transporter, it even had ballanced outs and I love the analog meters on the front - reminds me of my old Carver amp... Of course at $1800, it better do that and a whole lot more. It looks like Logitech is making a foray into high-cost all-home sound systems - probably a good more for them.

[Feanor]

Logitech has sure come a long way from when it was just making mice. So now people can control their transporter with their harmony remotes. Speaking of that transporter, it even had ballanced outs and I love the analog meters on the front - reminds me of my old Carver amp... Of course at $1800, it better do that and a whole lot more. It looks like Logitech is making a foray into high-cost all-home sound systems - probably a good more for them.

The Transporter, that is. I want one really BAD

[noddin0ff]

I'm thinking this must mean that Harmony is going to provide a PDA/iPod like screen interface for browsing your audio/video media collections on a server?

[nightflier]

I do have one concern. It seems that everytime computer geeks (in this case Logitech) are given the helm over audio geeks (Slim Devices), the ensuing result is that quantity & the bottom line win out over quality. If Logitech starts pushing low-cost consumer oriented compressed-computer-sound-card-level audio products over the higher end stuff that Slim Devices was developping a penchant for, then this is definitely not good news. One can only hope that the influence goes the other way, with Logitech developping an interest in high-end audio, although that is a long shot. We'll have to wait and see how many audio-heads are going to roll and if the Transporter remains part of the line-up.

[Dusty Chalk]

I'm concerned about how it's going to affect Pandora.

[basite]

if slim devices is going to be under total control of logitech (i mean that logitech will produce them and haves the largest cut in the designing process) that would be bad, then slim devices will end up producing some cheap crap which is mainly intended for pc and mp3 use, not for us audiophiles,and (if this bothers you) it will be made in china, and when i say china, i mean the bad part of china...

but let's hope this won't happen

Greetings,
Basite.

[HAVIC]

I have been using logitech products since 1988 and have been happy with them as a company for more than 75% of my life. I feel that Logitech realizes the market for this product and will continue to keep the product at that level. It does not mean that they will not make a cheaper lower end model. Look what they did with the Harmony company they acquired a couple of years ago. They released the Harmony 880 and 890, which would definetly be for the high end of the consumer market. It would seem that they want to be in the high end in some part and hopefully will stay with it doing it right.

[emorphien]

I'm a little concerned as well. As much as I like (and dislike some aspects) my 880 and enjoy their mice I don't think they've done wonders for audio so far. They had better resist the urge to turn Slim Devices hardware in to cheap commodities.

[Mike Anderson]

Wow, I didn't realize there were so many Slim Devices fans around here!

I've had a Squeezebox 2 now for about a year, and I absoutely love it. I'm not hopeful about this acquisition. The best thing Logitech could do with Slim Devices is NOTHING. If Logitech so much as touches the product, I will be extremely bummed. But of course, Logitech WILL exercise control over the products, so.... That pretty much guarantees things will get screwed up.

Sucks. I say go buy about ten Squeezeboxes and Transporters right now, before Logitech slaps their logo on 'em, and leave them in the box; they're sure to be collector's items someday.

[Mike Anderson]

Speaking of that transporter, it even had ballanced outs and I love the analog meters on the front - reminds me of my old Carver amp... Of course at $1800, it better do that and a whole lot more.

You don't need the transporter; I have the VU meters on my Squeezebox. And if you take the digital signal out of the SB, you can use any DAC you like. So there's better ways to spend you money than on the Transporter, IMO.

Also, as far as I know, you can't yet loop the digitals ins and outs with the Transporter. So you can't do room correction purely in the digital domain unless you use only the digital outs and bypass the Transporter's DAC altogether (in which case it doesn't make much sense to pay $1800 for one).

[Dusty Chalk]

Well, I wrote Pandora, and they assure me that their relationship with Slim Devices will continue. And that makes sense -- there's probably some contractual agreement between the two, and the contract can't be broken simply because one of the companies got acquired. It's an asset, anyway, not a liability -- companies keep assets and sell off liabilities.